| MIATA BUILD |
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 | |  | July 11, 2008 - Time to add the extra door bars.
When I originally built the car for the 2007 race, the scrutineers would accept a basic SCCA Spec Miata cage. But after a couple of high-profile accidents last year, they decided an extra door bar would be required on my car for 2008. Fair enough, I'm not going to argue. This is why I've been hounding the organizers with all sorts of questions, to avoid awkward problems in Newfoundland.
After conferring via email on the design, I made a visit to our local Porsche guru. He works out of a small shop that is completely stuffed with everything you need to make your own highly-competitive race car, quite possibly to the point of machining your own engine block out of a chunk of aluminum. He's also run in both the Carrera Panamerica and the Italian Mille Miglia, so he's a kindred spirit of sorts.
After about 90 minutes of drilling, grinding, testing and the like, here's what I brought home.
entry 491 - tags: safety | | |  | July 11, 2008 - After a bit more fitting, more grinding and a bunch of welding, the bars are in.
It actually took quite a bit more fitting. I thought we had the fit closer when we were at the Porsche shop, but it would seem not. Once fitted, I stuffed a huge canvas tarpaulin inside the car to catch sparks and welded them in. It was a bit awkward in many places and there's no way this cage is coming out without being cut apart, but it wasn't exactly removable before. It's not my prettiest welding, but it'll certainly do the job. I sent this picture off to the Targa tech inspector and he gave it the thumbs up.
Now I just have to paint them. I'll also repair the paint damage to the nose that took place during the off during testing last summer. Hopefully that will take place this weekend.
This is the last big step in preparation. There are still a number of small details to sort out and a lot of rule book reading to ensure I'm good, but the car is now fundamentally ready.
entry 492 - tags: safety | | | July 11, 2008 - White shirts are now available.
T-shirts, long-sleeved shirts and even a vintage-style "ringer" tee are in the Targa Miata store. Show that you're part of the team!
If there's a particular product you'd like to see, just contact me.
entry 493 - tags: announcements, Martini | | |  | July 14, 2008 - Since I have to paint the new door bars, I'm going to touch up the damage on the nose from the little off at Pahrump last year.
I'd like to point out that I was not driving at the time, for those that don't remember! It'll be easy enough to fix, I simply need to respray the bottom half of the nose.
I have to say that pulling the front bumper off the car makes it look derelict almost immediately.
entry 494 - tags: crash | | |  | July 15, 2008 - With the nose off, I got ready to sand it down for the fresh paint on the lower half.
It sure was thoughtful of Mazda to put that groove halfway down, it's a perfect place to put the seam between the two layers of paint.
Looking at the scratches on this, I can't imagine just what sort of ride Bill went on with this car. I'll bet it was exciting.
entry 495 - tags: crash, paint | | |  | July 15, 2008 - I've come to the realization that the smaller the piece of the car you have to paint, the more of a pain it is.
That's a whole lot of masking for a couple of feet of steel! I probably could have been a little less careful (or painted more of the interior), but this will do me fine. I did pull the doors and roof off in order to give myself more room to work and less stuff to mask.
entry 496 - tags: paint | | |  | July 17, 2008 - Old vs new paint.
The new paint (on the right) looks slightly more blue than the old, despite the fact that it's out of the same can. Maybe it'll age a little - I do recall thinking the car had a bit of a blue tinge to it originally. The seam between the two colors is easily sanded down, and I expect nobody will ever notice the difference as most of the joints are well hidden.
The car's almost back together now. I just have to remount the nose after fixing some damaged plastic inside, then it's ready for the final track day test in a bit over a week.
entry 497 - tags: paint | | | July 17, 2008 - The Underground Miata Network is our newest sponsor!
The UMN, as it's known, is a Miata club in Ottawa. I was a charter member and have kept in contact with the club via their email list - but this was completely unexpected! The club generously sent in a donation to help with the effort. I'm blown away by their support, and will proudly display the UMN logos on the car as soon as it's reassembled.
entry 498 - tags: sponsors, announcements | | |  | July 22, 2008 - I bought a new garage.
Well, sort of. The time has finally come to get a real grown up trailer. One with brakes, two axles and has not been abused for the last 32 years. Thinking about the long tow to and from Newfoundland had me a bit worried, and after some serious prodding from Janel we picked this up on Monday. It's 7' wide and 16.5' long, and it's the perfect size for a Miata. No bigger than it has to be, but big enough for the car, some tools and a set of tires. I'll do something clever inside to help with storage of the latter. The only thing that would have been better would have been if it was one of the low trailers designed for motorcycles to cut down on frontal area. I'm tempted to chop this one down by a couple of feet. First, though, I need to pull out the motorcycle chocks and mounting points and move them to be more appropriate for something that doesn't fall over quite so easily.
Why was Janel pushing for an enclosed trailer? Because now I can park a car in it, and that opens up another space in the garage for her Miata.
entry 499 - tags: logistics | | |  | July 25, 2008 - A big yummy stack of Toyos arrived today.
Yup, those are the race tires. I'll mount them up and scrub them in, then stash them away to await the trip to Newfoundland. Right now, I'm trying to pace the wear on the current tires. There are three track days and an autocross between now and the race, and I want them to wear out on the last lap of the last track day. I'd hate to pull off a set of tires that still have life in them. Right now, they're in great shape.
entry 500 - tags: tires | | |  | July 25, 2008 - Yesterday was a day of preparation.
There's a track day at Pueblo tomorrow, my last "big track" test before the race. Since I've changed the alignment around since the last Pueblo day, I need to do a little more playing around with sway bars and general setup. I might even drop the ride height a bit to see what that does for me. I'd prefer not to make the long trip out there but my local track doesn't help with high-speed corners. I need to know the car's controllable when turning in at 100 mph.
I also spent some time on the trailer. Doesn't everyone take a Sawzall to their new toys? A new roof vent, relocated tiedowns, a box for stuff bolted to the tongue, an anchor for the spare and a chock so I know how far to drive the car into the trailer. You know, the usual. The tow to the track will also be a test of the tow rig for the trip out to Newfoundland.
I also washed the car. After all, it will arrive at the track squeaky clean despite any weather I might meet! This isn't really notable, but it is something that hasn't been done for a while and it gave me a chance to see just how much patina the car has accumulated. Paint chips, small cracks, rubber marks - all the little things that make a car look used.
entry 501 | | |  | July 25, 2008 - A very interesting picture provided by a fellow racer.
He's entering a corner at about 40 mph. This car is fitted with the AFCO suspension, but with much higher spring rates and big fat Hoosier 275s. Check out that lifted rear wheel!
Cory reports that his car is sitting higher than he'd like, about the same as the Targa car is. This is because he's running 800 lb springs in the front and they're not compressing as much as my 375s, thus he ran out of adjustment. You can really see that in how high the car's sitting even in this position, the front still has another couple of inches of travel left. Some shorter springs will solve that, and it will give him some more droop travel.
He's also not running much swaybar at all when compared to his springs. It's a 7/8" bar up front, and he reports lots of oversteer. So he's going to try dropping the car by about an inch and sticking a much larger bar up front.
I find this interesting because it may be related to my wheelspin problem. I've never seen a picture of my car with such unbalanced cornering though. I'll be playing with ride height a bit at the track tomorrow to see if I can alter the behavior - or even to see if the car wheelspins in that environment.
entry 502 - tags: suspension | | | July 25, 2008 - I've been dealing with stacks of paperwork for the Targa.
Is it a good sign when you email a photo of the car (for the program) and the registrar responds "SWEET!"?
entry 503 | | |  | July 28, 2008 - The final high-speed testing took place on Saturday.
In short, the car performed well. I had a brace of sway bars along with me to do some tuning, but it wasn't necessary. The overall balance of the car is pretty good. On long sweepers, it can be balanced on the throttle well. I've set the car up to be a little bit softer on turn-in than I usually do for a track-only car, in order to give myself a little more margin for error. Still, it'll rotate nicely if I set the car up properly on corner entry.
I did play with the ride height a bit to see what that affected. The car's a bit sharper and less prone to understeer at the lower height, which is about the same height that we use for street Miatas at Flyin' Miata. It's easy to adjust so I'll leave that as an adjustment option once we get to Newfoundland.
I tried driving a few different lines around the track to see how the car would react. It's amazing how much slower you get when you're driving like a normal person instead of a racer who knows every little bump in the course. Still, it was good practice and the car was a good tool - mobile and friendly. Even a fast entry into the fastest corner on the track, with a different line than usual, was dealt with well.
The car ran flawlessly and cool despite 30+ minute sessions in brutal heat. I need to spend a bit more time on the dyno to tune the engine but overall it's pretty good. I declared it finished at the track.
Well, finished except for one thing. The tight corners on this track tend to be lefts. There's one relatively tight right hand 180 degree corner, and on that one I could get the inside rear to spin up once in a while if I was brutal on the berms. This was without a passenger, so it probably wouldn't happen on the Targa - but I've decided it's time to solve this problem once and for all. I'll pull the Guru differential out of my Seven and install it in this car. The Guru is a helical-style diff like the Torsen, but with preload so it won't act like an open diff when one wheel loses significant traction. I'll swap that over this week. I'm just trying to decide if I should have it changed to a 4.10 ring and pinion or stick with the 4.30 that's on it already. I do prefer to drive the taller setup, so I'll probably go with that.
The trailer towed really nicely, and when we hit lots of rain on the way home I was happy to think that my little car was safe and sound inside. It's not cheap to tow, but that's life.
entry 504 - tags: testing, suspension | | |  | August 1, 2008 - The differential is out again.
I'm going to use velcro to put the goofy thing back in again.
It's out so that it can be replaced with the Guru from the Seven. What the heck, even if I don't need it I'll have it. The Guru is currently set up with a 4.3 so I'm having the gears swapped around. I was tempted to try it myself, but this close to the race and with such an expensive part at risk I decided to try it some other time.
While underneath, I noticed that the last alignment tech set two of the four rear alignment bolts upside down - you can see one at the far left. I'm not sure if this is going to be a problem or not, but I'm not impressed regardless. My usual long-time alignment guy seems to have retired.
entry 505 - tags: suspension | | |  | August 6, 2008 - The Underground Miata Network logo is proudly displayed in the hardtop window.
I'm hoping to get together with the club to thank them for their support on my way home from the race.
entry 506 - tags: sponsors | | |  | August 6, 2008 - The Guru diff, freshly wrapped in a 4.10 ring and pinion.
It's a beefy thing, rated for 600 hp or so. With the number of diffs I've been juggling, I've started identifying them with a silver marker on the housing. Makes life a lot easier, and this way you don't accidentally install an open 4.30 diff in your rally car. To pick a random example.
entry 507 - tags: differential | | |  | August 6, 2008 - I love that blue.
The last time I installed the diff, I experimented with using Hylomar HPF instead of the usual RTV. Hylomar never really sets up, but stays tacky. This makes it really easy to separate later and to clean up. The old Land Rover guys use this a lot, and when I came across it in my toolbox I decided to give it a shot in something a little newer and hopefully more oil-tight. I'm pretty happy with the results, it's much cleaner to work with than RTV.
While writing this, I decided to check out the suggested uses of Hylomar from the manufacturer. And will you look at that, they recommend it for "differential covers". So there you go.
entry 508 - tags: differential | | |  | August 6, 2008 - I've been working behind the scenes on the website.
It's now easier for me to post updates - something that will be important on the road during the race! I am hoping to keep everyone up to date while the really exciting stuff is going on.
What's up with the picture? Well, I need to make sure the picture uploading is working. So that's what the car looked like a year ago. The Martini paint had been unwrapped just a couple of days earlier. It didn't even have a windshield or rear hardtop window yet.
entry 509 | | |  | August 9, 2008 - A great shot from the last trackday at Pueblo.
The car's sitting nicely - this is a fairly fast corner with a quick dab of the brakes on entry, a bit of rotation and then back on the throttle. At least, that's how I do it. And I always exit this corner saying "next time, faster on entry..."
Back to the present day - the diff is in and working nicely. I'll know just how nicely after tomorrow. A surprise track day has come up at the Woody Creek track in Aspen, courtesy of the 25th anniversary gathering of the original quattro. This isn't a track we get a chance to drive very often. It's relatively short but is bumpy in spots and has a couple of challenging corners. I've only been on it once before. I'm going primarily because Janel has to work and because the weather forecast is poor. Hopefully it'll rain. It's not the usual wish for track work, but I don't have much experience in fast driving in the rain and I need the practice!
I have my new race tires all mounted and balanced. If it's rainy, I'll scrub them in and see how full-depth RA1s work in the wet stuff. Quite well by all accounts. If it's damp or dry, I'll use my well-seasoned test tires. I'm also going to drive the car out to see how the new padding works in the seat.
There's a Sport Quattro in attendance at the event. I can't wait to see one in person.
entry 510 - tags: testing, suspension, ergonomics | | |
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